[558] **"They lived the holy life (brahmacariyamacariṃsu)":** "the holy life (brahmacariya)" is said to be the abstaining from, refraining from, deliberate refraining from, avoidance of, and desisting from engaging in what is contrary to the true Dhamma (asaddhamma-samāpatti); the non-doing, the non-performing, the non-transgression, the not overstepping of the boundary, the destruction of the causeway (setughāta).
Furthermore, in the direct (non-figurative) sense, "the holy life" is said to be the Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration (samādhi).
**"They lived the holy life":** they lived the holy life — that is, having undertaken it, they conducted themselves in it; therefore, "they lived the holy life."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.